Individual differences in the nature of conditioned behavior across a conditioned stimulus: adaptation and application of a model

Iliescu, Adela F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6642-9385, Dwyer, Dominic M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8069-5508 and Honey, Robert C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6870-1880 2020. Individual differences in the nature of conditioned behavior across a conditioned stimulus: adaptation and application of a model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition 46 (4) , pp. 460-269. 10.1037/xan0000270

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Abstract

Pavlovian conditioning procedures produce marked individual differences in the form of conditioned behavior. For example, when rats are given conditioning trials in which the temporary insertion of a lever into an operant chamber (the conditioned stimulus, CS) is paired with the delivery of food (the unconditioned stimulus, US), they exhibit knowledge of the leverfood relationship in different ways. For some rats (known as sign-trackers) interactions with the lever dominate, while for others (goal-trackers) approaching the food well dominates. A formal model of Pavlovian conditioning (HeiDI) attributes such individual differences in behavior to variations in the perceived salience of the CS and US. An application of the model in which the perceived salience of the CS declines (i.e., adapts) across its duration, predicts changes in these individual differences within the presentation of the CS: The sign-tracking bias is predicted to decline and goal-tracking bias is predicted to increase across the presentation of a lever. The accuracy of these predictions was confirmed though analysis of archival data from female and male rats.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology
Publisher:	American Psychological Association
ISSN:	2329-8456
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	9 June 2020
Date of Acceptance:	27 May 2020
Last Modified:	24 Feb 2024 16:23
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/132268

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